The present invention relates generally to gutter systems, and more particularly to a gutter wing system for receiving water run-off from a roof in preference to debris.
Gutter systems have long been used to divert rain water run-off from the roofs of structures. Typically, gutter systems include a length of some sort of trough which collects the run-off and redirects it to a down spout and thereby away from the structures. Unfortunately, along with the rain water, these prior art systems also collect leaves and other debris which runs off the roof This problem causes gutters to fill up with leaves and other debris so that the amount of water which can be redirected is significantly reduced. The gutter cannot redirect water at all when the gutter becomes altogether blocked. In either case, the water run-off overflows from the gutter, rendering the gutter partially or totally useless, exposing the building structure to damage from the undirected water.
Prior art devices address this problem by providing gutter systems which enable the user to empty the gutter manually, thereby restoring its water-diverting capability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,965, to Jackson, discloses a rigid gutter which is mounted upon an L-shaped flange. The gutter is hinged to a bracket at its outside lower corner and includes a cord which allows the user to rotate the entire gutter, outwardly, such that the gutter becomes inverted and spills its contents to the ground. These devices do nothing to protect the gutter from the accumulation of debris and furthermore do not redirect leaves and other debris.
Other devices provide a mesh or screen covering to keep the trough free of large debris by allowing water to pass through the screen. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,100 to Moller. These devices, however, also require the user to manually clear the obstruction caused by accumulated debris and therefore do not provide for the redirection of debris away from the gutter system. For that matter, smaller size debris (i.e., less than the mesh size of the screen) is not kept out of the trough.
Some devices include a trough with a solid cover. U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,649 to Vahldieck provides a horizontally extended cover that relies on the capillary action of the water to cause it to adhere to the curved end of the cover and run into the gutter while supposedly allowing debris to fall off and miss the gutter. However, the Vahldieck gutter does not provide a complete cover to the gutter and, as such, still permits debris to enter the gutter. In addition, the cover included in the Vahldieck gutter is not able to open up to allow access to the trough for a heavy flow of water.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,851,969 to Teutsch discloses a trough which includes a hinged cover which rotates from a closed position, where the cover lies over the trough and against the roof surface, to an open position, where the trough is fully exposed. The cover includes a receptacle at its outer edge to collect water and thereby rotate the cover into the open position. However, because the cover lies against the roof, and not below the roof, all water flowing off the roof flows into the collection receptacle. Therefore, the gutter is unable to keep the trough covered during low water flow, because the cover will rotate open even in light water flow. Also, this system does not allow the water accumulated in the collection receptacle to drain into the trough. Rather, when the cover opens, the accumulated water must empty directly to the ground. Therefore, the trough is unable to divert a large portion of the water run-off, markedly undermining its efficiency and exposing the building structure to damage from the water run-off.
It would be desirable to provide a gutter system which is capable of collecting and diverting water run-off from the roof of a building while automatically protecting the gutter from the collection of leaves and other debris.